Friday, 22 February 2008

Punctuation has been making headlines in New York, it appears. Yesterday's Guardian carried a leader article "In praise of ... the semicolon", citing the semicolon's reappearance in New York subway signs, and the subsequent praise from the New York Times. The Guardian, a newspaper famously pilloried for its frequent typos in days gone by, takes issue with the NYT over whether the semicolon had fallen into disuse. While the NYT wrote that many considered it a "pretentious anachronism", the Guardian writes that in its pages it has been kept in regular and correct use. A debate has ensued on the Guardian web site, which is itself great news for those of us who appreciate the nuances of our language.